The Charlie Kirk Show - February 17, 2026


Remembering Rush Five Years On + The Shape of Christian Revival


Episode Stats

Length

38 minutes

Words per Minute

173.99223

Word Count

6,719

Sentence Count

513


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcripts from "The Charlie Kirk Show" are sourced from the Knowledge Fight Interactive Search Tool. Explore them interactively here.
00:00:03.000 My name is Charlie Kirk.
00:00:05.000 I run the largest pro American student organization in the country fighting for the future of our republic.
00:00:11.000 My call is to fight evil and to proclaim truth.
00:00:14.000 If the most important thing for you is just feeling good, you're going to end up miserable.
00:00:19.000 But if the most important thing is doing good, you will end up purposeful.
00:00:24.000 College is a scam, everybody.
00:00:26.000 You got to stop sending your kids to college.
00:00:27.000 You should get married as young as possible and have as many kids as possible.
00:00:31.000 Go start a turning point USA college chapter, go start a turning point USA high school chapter.
00:00:35.000 Go find out how your church can get involved.
00:00:37.000 Sign up and become an activist.
00:00:38.000 I gave my life to the Lord in fifth grade.
00:00:41.000 Most important decision I ever made in my life, and I encourage you to do the same.
00:00:45.000 Here I am.
00:00:46.000 Lord, use me.
00:00:48.000 Buckle up, everybody.
00:00:49.000 Here we go.
00:00:56.000 The Charlie Kirk Show is proudly sponsored by Preserve Gold, the leading gold and silver experts, and the only precious metals company I recommend to my family, friends, and viewers.
00:01:09.000 All right, welcome to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:01:11.000 It's February 17th, 2026.
00:01:14.000 Blake, how are you?
00:01:15.000 How are we doing?
00:01:16.000 Well, I mean, there's a lot of sad things in the world.
00:01:18.000 There's a lot of sad things in the world.
00:01:20.000 I'm still not over Robert Duvall yesterday.
00:01:22.000 I actually went back and watched a bunch of his clips on YouTube last night.
00:01:27.000 And obviously, there is the newest trans shooting that came out of Rhode Island this time.
00:01:33.000 We're going to unpack that.
00:01:34.000 We also have Riley Gaines joining the show halfway through the hour.
00:01:38.000 Then we're going to turn our attention to Prop 4 in Utah.
00:01:42.000 Got updates there.
00:01:43.000 We made it across the finish line, at least we hope, in the gerrymandering prop four story.
00:01:50.000 Then we got Mike Davis in the second half of hour two.
00:01:53.000 But first, I want to pay homage to the great Rush Limbaugh.
00:01:57.000 It is the five year anniversary of Rush's passing.
00:02:02.000 It is five months since we last met Charlie, and Charlie loved Rush.
00:02:07.000 Charlie often on this show would remember Rush and would pay tribute to Rush.
00:02:13.000 And Rush and Charlie were dear friends.
00:02:15.000 Actually, Charlie.
00:02:16.000 Said on this show after Rush's passing that Rush Limbaugh became a seven figure donor to the organization.
00:02:24.000 He did it privately and quietly.
00:02:26.000 That was the stipulation.
00:02:27.000 And upon Rush's passing, Catherine, Rush's widow, gave Charlie permission to reveal that, make that public, as Charlie wanted to honor Rush Limbaugh in a very special way.
00:02:41.000 And so I wanted to play just quickly here at the outset a clip from Rush Limbaugh describing the first time that he met Charlie Kirk.
00:02:49.000 375.
00:02:50.000 I don't want to jinx him.
00:02:52.000 But I'm just going to tell you.
00:02:54.000 They brought Charlie Kirk to the golf course to meet me about a month ago.
00:03:01.000 He was in town to set up this turning point thing.
00:03:03.000 And I spoke with him for about a half hour.
00:03:05.000 This is the kind of guy that you can see really becoming big in politics as he gets older.
00:03:15.000 He just has the carriage, the personality, the charisma.
00:03:22.000 You may think this sounds weird, but I remember when Bill Clinton became president, people were saying that they just knew Bill Clinton was going to be president someday in college.
00:03:31.000 He just had that.
00:03:32.000 Kind of ambition, and he impressed people in a way that he could.
00:03:38.000 Telling you that people are saying the same things about Charlie Kirk.
00:03:42.000 Did Charlie ever actually golf?
00:03:43.000 Charlie hated golf.
00:03:45.000 I thought so.
00:03:46.000 Charlie hated golf.
00:03:47.000 That was one of our great similarities.
00:03:48.000 He thought it was a waste of time.
00:03:50.000 He thought men should be spending more time with their families.
00:03:53.000 That is such a Charlie thing.
00:03:54.000 He'd be like, this takes four hours to do.
00:03:56.000 I mean, you could do it in two, maybe, if it wasn't that crowded, of course.
00:04:00.000 But still, it is a time consuming.
00:04:02.000 You really would get why Charlie liked college football, and it was because you could.
00:04:07.000 Watch it while doing other things like running Amfest.
00:04:09.000 Yeah, except as I was saying, have it on in the.
00:04:11.000 Yeah, and every so often he'd stop, look at the screen, a play would happen, then he'd move on.
00:04:15.000 That was Charlie's idea.
00:04:16.000 Remember during the World Cup and he was watching on his phone in the middle of segments in the show and he would get distracted while doing the segment?
00:04:23.000 Yeah, well, Rush was.
00:04:25.000 I'll never forget when we started the show and Charlie said that he aspired to be more like Rush Limbaugh and that that was sort of a northern star for Charlie.
00:04:35.000 And then obviously that picture that you see on screen was.
00:04:38.000 Rush Limbaugh at one of our events.
00:04:40.000 We honored Rush with an award down in Palm Beach.
00:04:45.000 And then Rush got to introduce President Trump at one of our student action summits as well.
00:04:51.000 And Charlie went and picked him up, picked Rush up.
00:04:54.000 They drove in the car back together and had a really long talk.
00:04:57.000 And I just remember being very jealous I didn't get invited to go along with Charlie to go pick up Rush.
00:05:03.000 But Charlie told me all about it and said how amazing it was.
00:05:06.000 As you say, he modeled himself on it.
00:05:07.000 And that was one of Charlie's great strengths, he had.
00:05:11.000 We had so many mentors.
00:05:12.000 He had so many models.
00:05:13.000 And he had no shame.
00:05:16.000 His way of attacking so many issues was okay, well, what does the best person at this do?
00:05:19.000 And I'll just copy them.
00:05:20.000 And so that's why you would see funny aspects of this.
00:05:23.000 Like you'd always call him Barack Hussein Obama because Rush Limbaugh called him Barack Hussein Obama when he was listening to it in high school.
00:05:29.000 Yeah, I think Lady Graham is also one of the greatest.
00:05:31.000 Lady Graham.
00:05:32.000 He would have the same nicknames as Rush because Rush was one of the best at it.
00:05:35.000 Why wouldn't he copy him?
00:05:36.000 And well, so here's to you, Rush Limbaugh.
00:05:36.000 Yeah.
00:05:38.000 You are still the GOAT, the greatest to ever do it.
00:05:42.000 Five years on, we miss.
00:05:43.000 Rush Limbaugh in this movement.
00:05:45.000 And now with Charlie gone, we miss Charlie so much from this movement.
00:05:49.000 And there will never be another like either of them.
00:05:53.000 And so we pay tribute to the passing of Rush and the passing of Charlie at the same time.
00:06:00.000 Two great friends, two great patriots, titans of their generations.
00:06:04.000 And we miss them dearly.
00:06:06.000 He didn't get to be president, but he got to be a prophet and a martyr, which are greater things.
00:06:12.000 And he helped elect a president.
00:06:12.000 Yeah.
00:06:14.000 And so there we are.
00:06:16.000 Story one in the can, as it were.
00:06:20.000 We want to turn our attention to what happened in Rhode Island.
00:06:25.000 This is a terrible story at a youth hockey tournament where a trans shooter turns out to be the father, Robert Dorgan.
00:06:33.000 He was born a male, also went by Roberta Esposita.
00:06:38.000 That's the new euphemism that they've been using in articles.
00:06:41.000 He was a person who used two different names.
00:06:44.000 That's a new euphemism.
00:06:45.000 And I think, you know, we, well, listen, let's just play the clip 321.
00:06:49.000 That's where the suspect, can you confirm whether the suspect's a male, female, is a transgender person?
00:06:57.000 Is that something that he has in terms of information?
00:06:59.000 So, what I can say right now is that we have identified the person, the SESEC, by a birth name.
00:07:04.000 The birth name was Robert Dorgan.
00:07:08.000 We have also learned that the person does go by the name of Roberta.
00:07:11.000 Robert, Roberta.
00:07:13.000 What's the difference?
00:07:15.000 It was even weirder because it's Dorgan, but then apparently went by Roberta Esposito.
00:07:20.000 So possibly, I mean, obviously a clearly unwell person.
00:07:24.000 And the daughter confirms it.
00:07:26.000 Yes.
00:07:26.000 So 322.
00:07:27.000 My father was a sugar.
00:07:39.000 What was the reasoning?
00:07:40.000 Was there a family argument?
00:07:42.000 He has mental health issues.
00:07:44.000 So, yes, she goes on to describe those mental health issues a little bit more.
00:07:49.000 She says that he had been struggling with mental health for quite some time.
00:07:54.000 She said, He was very sick.
00:07:57.000 So, this is a little different.
00:07:58.000 We wanted to talk about this, of course.
00:08:00.000 It's horrifying, but we've really been, we've just last week we were saying there have been a wave of transgenderism related shootings, and we said there is likely to be more.
00:08:10.000 His is a little different from some of the other ones we've seen.
00:08:14.000 Because it wasn't a young person who, you know, was diverted into this when they were unwell in high school.
00:08:21.000 It was, it seems like it was more of a midlife crisis type thing, like, which is another type.
00:08:29.000 But that's a threat as well.
00:08:31.000 And no, I mean, so we have images of this guy.
00:08:34.000 I mean, obviously unwell.
00:08:36.000 You know, Roberta, this is posting pictures of nails.
00:08:42.000 If you can put that up, guys, the nails, like, You know, cosplaying as a woman, wearing tank tops like a woman, blue hair.
00:08:52.000 I mean, this is, you know, you can feel this.
00:08:56.000 Like Andy Noe posted this image of this gentleman, I guess, you know, bearing his backside.
00:09:06.000 Something was off here.
00:09:06.000 Well, I mean, the most dreadful thing was just the day before, someone said, Tim McBride, a trans person in Congress, is a man.
00:09:13.000 And he said, keep bashing us, but do not wonder why we go berserk.
00:09:17.000 Yeah, I was responding to a Kevin Sorbo.
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00:10:23.000 A little bit of a white pill here.
00:10:25.000 Real clear investigations.
00:10:27.000 This is something we've talked about on the show before, but it bears repeating because it's so important.
00:10:32.000 Surprising revival.
00:10:33.000 Gen Z men and highly educated lead return to religion.
00:10:38.000 So this is something, yeah, there you go.
00:10:40.000 There's a graphic right up there.
00:10:41.000 Big news story.
00:10:43.000 And I love this because it kind of drafts off the last story.
00:10:47.000 And I'll explain why.
00:10:49.000 You saw this guy, Robert Dugan.
00:10:55.000 Another trans shooter.
00:10:57.000 Did you know that four out of ten liberal, young Gen Z liberal women are also religiously unaffiliated?
00:11:04.000 So, four out of ten are religiously unaffiliated.
00:11:06.000 Four out of ten also are LGBTQ.
00:11:10.000 That's, again, this is genuine.
00:11:12.000 That's quite the lineup.
00:11:13.000 That's Gen Z, young Gen Z women that are liberals, progressive.
00:11:18.000 Four out of ten, LGBTQ.
00:11:21.000 Four out of ten, religiously unaffiliated.
00:11:23.000 But here's what's great young men are flocking back to the churches.
00:11:27.000 But they're not flocking back to mainline denominations.
00:11:31.000 They're not flocking back to weak, watered down professions of the Christian faith.
00:11:36.000 They want the high offspring.
00:11:39.000 No one has ever excitedly posted, I am excited to announce that I have been baptized into the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
00:11:47.000 Yeah, exactly.
00:11:47.000 Sorry, my dad's XCLCA.
00:11:49.000 I got to dunk on them sometimes.
00:11:50.000 But this is what's fascinating.
00:11:53.000 So they document a new report from Chapman Center on Demographics and Policy, da For the first time in decades, Pew Research notes that in the U.S., at least, Christianity has stopped its nosedive as more people begin to see the efficacy and the rewards of religious faith and practice.
00:12:08.000 So, where are they going?
00:12:10.000 They are returning to Orthodox faith, Christian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox.
00:12:18.000 Those churches are booming, like almost 100% increase in new converts.
00:12:22.000 Catholic churches, conservative Catholic churches are booming.
00:12:26.000 Conservative Protestant churches are booming.
00:12:29.000 Charismatic churches are booming.
00:12:32.000 Those are all like high octane, give it to me straight.
00:12:36.000 The most interesting part to me is that highly educated subset because we should be frank.
00:12:41.000 Charlie saw evidence of revival.
00:12:43.000 We've seen evidence of revival.
00:12:44.000 But at the big picture, it's not necessarily showing up in Poland.
00:12:47.000 It's that the decline has stopped.
00:12:49.000 And yet, if you talk to people, if you're in DC, if you're in, for example, like organized conservative circles, everyone can see that there is some, there's like this revival that young people are joining in.
00:13:01.000 They're showing up a lot more.
00:13:02.000 People see it on the ground.
00:13:04.000 And what I think you're seeing is you're seeing a big preference shift among the biggest kind of cultural influencers, things that go downstream.
00:13:14.000 So if this was 20 years ago, you'd be saying, oh, all the highly educated are bailing on religion.
00:13:18.000 And then that percolates downstream.
00:13:21.000 It's kind of like, it's actually kind of like the trans epidemic.
00:13:24.000 That started with a few elites.
00:13:25.000 And then now we're seeing it spread everywhere else.
00:13:28.000 Well, we can see it in 392.
00:13:30.000 Here's the graph weekly religious attendance by education.
00:13:34.000 Graduate degrees are actually the most likely.
00:13:37.000 To attend every week, bachelor's degree, just slightly below associate's degree.
00:13:43.000 The lowest are high school graduates, which is fascinating.
00:13:47.000 Yeah, it's almost like, and you see this with a lot of scientists too.
00:13:51.000 A lot of scientists have found faith.
00:13:53.000 A lot of, you know, the guy who cracked the human genome, devout Christian.
00:13:57.000 So, this doesn't surprise me in the one sense because the gospels and the scriptures are as deep and as wide and as complex as you can go.
00:14:06.000 You can take it at a 101 level, which is deeply profound, certainly.
00:14:10.000 But the deeper you go into scriptures, the more tie ins, the more parallels, the more the richness just expands and explodes, the deeper you're willing to go with it.
00:14:20.000 And I think there's so much, there's such rising awareness of just.
00:14:26.000 I remember 20 years ago so much smugness because people had grown up in such a culturally Christian environment that it could all be thrown away.
00:14:33.000 It was like irrelevant.
00:14:34.000 It was old fashioned.
00:14:35.000 You know, we can use reason to do all these things.
00:14:37.000 And the past 20 years have seen that total vindication of how important faith is as the scaffolding for life to keep everything from going to hell, basically.
00:14:47.000 Well, I think there was a.
00:14:48.000 I think people took it for granted that the culture was sort of stable and roughly, approximately Christian.
00:14:56.000 Participate in a weekly service, for example, you would still go out into the world and it would still feel approximately Christian because all of society is blessed by the Christian faith.
00:15:05.000 All of Western society is blessed by the Christian faith.
00:15:07.000 A lot of people have seen families' disintegration.
00:15:11.000 They're seeing, actually, it is, you kind of need that, like I said, that faith scaffolding to really flourish to the maximum of your abilities in many cases.
00:15:19.000 And I think for a lot of people, that's the kernel of, well, if it's so much better to have faith, I think that, especially among the highly educated, helps lead that process to, well, then.
00:15:29.000 Might it be true, actually?
00:15:31.000 And then I think that takes a lot of people into actual conversion.
00:15:35.000 I think that's a story I've seen play out many times.
00:15:38.000 100%.
00:15:38.000 And we are going to hit the CNN doc hard.
00:15:43.000 There's a new piece that CNN just released this morning attacking the Charlie Kirk Memorial as sort of ground zero of Christian nationalism rising up.
00:15:52.000 As if, by the way, as if that was a bad thing.
00:15:54.000 If that hits to be a ground zero for any revival, then God bless that memorial and we'll wear that with honor.
00:16:00.000 Yeah, 100%.
00:16:01.000 And by the way, Our society, detached from the Christian faith, is like a flower in a vase.
00:16:10.000 It might look beautiful for a short time, but if it's disconnected from the roots, it will die.
00:16:16.000 And the same is true for the American culture, for Western civilization writ large, that if we do not reestablish a connection with the root, the tree will wither, the fruit will be bad.
00:16:16.000 It will wither.
00:16:27.000 So we need our faith.
00:16:29.000 So this is one of the most important positive signs that you could see in the news today that young people, especially young men, because I believe.
00:16:37.000 Young women will follow.
00:16:39.000 Young men going back to church, wanting to get married, wanting to have families, wanting to build a life of purpose is one of the truly most positive signs that you could see in any news clipping across the landscape of the media.
00:16:52.000 The fact that it won't get more press coverage is a darn shame, but we are going to cover it here because it's truly important.
00:16:57.000 It's something Charlie poured his life into, and I'm so glad to see Real Clear Investigations highlight this truly important development.
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00:18:27.000 Riley Gaines, welcome back to the Charlie Kirk Show.
00:18:30.000 Good to see you.
00:18:31.000 How are you?
00:18:32.000 We're doing well.
00:18:33.000 We're covering this story, though, and I thought of you because you are one of the leading voices when it comes to, I would say, the mental illness of the trans insanity that has taken over women's sports, that has taken over so many aspects of our public dialogue and discourse.
00:18:49.000 And now we're seeing this repeated, troubling, you know, one after the other, incidents of shootings involving trans shooters.
00:18:57.000 And it's kind of like, when are we going to.
00:19:01.000 Actually, raise the alarm, call it what it is that this is an epidemic of trans violence.
00:19:05.000 I wanted to get your opinion on this of how we even got here.
00:19:09.000 You know, I said, I joked with you, Riley.
00:19:11.000 I said, You're not a doctor, but you know, you've been studying this issue.
00:19:15.000 Your response was beautiful.
00:19:17.000 So maybe let's start there.
00:19:18.000 Yeah.
00:19:18.000 Well, when we were talking on the phone today, you did.
00:19:21.000 You said, You're not a doctor.
00:19:22.000 And I said, Well, Andrew, you don't have to be a doctor to understand, number one, the basis of the issue, right?
00:19:28.000 Gender ideology as a whole, the harm that it's causing, the destruction that it's causing, and now what we've seen, the death.
00:19:35.000 Literal, I mean, how innocent lives are being prematurely taken from this planet.
00:19:39.000 Charlie Kirk being one of those.
00:19:42.000 We saw in Nashville, my backyard, where three little nine year olds, I think three adults as well, in that scenario.
00:19:49.000 We saw obviously what happened in Canada, what happened in Minneapolis, and just in Rhode Island this week.
00:19:54.000 This is a very destructive mental illness disease, as you said, epidemic, social epidemic, and contagion that is infecting, plaguing society.
00:20:03.000 You don't have to be a doctor to speak to this.
00:20:06.000 And you ask why, right?
00:20:07.000 Which is the million dollar question, but I think pretty plainly, pretty simply, and at least how I understand it, I think there's a couple routes you could go here.
00:20:16.000 But I think what would resonate with most people is the problem.
00:20:20.000 This is the problem with the affirmation model that we have been seeing being used, whether it's the medicalization side of things, whether it's the respecting pronouns.
00:20:29.000 This is the problem because think about what we are affirming.
00:20:33.000 By being accepting and affirming of this, we are really only deepening the eventual damage that is lurking.
00:20:41.000 Underneath the surface.
00:20:43.000 And I say underneath the surface because when we're talking about this demographic, oftentimes these are people with underlying conditions such as depression, anxiety, other personality or mood disorders.
00:20:56.000 And those aren't the things that are being treated by these doctors or surgeons or healthcare professionals or therapists.
00:21:02.000 No, they're being affirmed to believe that they were correct to feel as if they're born wrong.
00:21:08.000 And that's a horrible message that anyone, of course, children, but even adults for that matter, That's the message that they're receiving is that they're correct to feel as if they're born wrong.
00:21:18.000 So it's a really horrible, horrible thing.
00:21:21.000 Prayers to the family of the victims.
00:21:23.000 And I think it just leads with the question of how many more times do we have to see this?
00:21:29.000 What has to be done?
00:21:30.000 What is the answer?
00:21:31.000 I can tell you what the answer is not.
00:21:33.000 The answer is not gun control.
00:21:35.000 Because guess what?
00:21:36.000 In Canada and in Rhode Island, where both of these atrocities in the past week took place, there are already strict gun laws.
00:21:42.000 Okay, so gun control, that would not have worked.
00:21:47.000 Because criminals, they don't trouble themselves with the laws.
00:21:51.000 By enforcing gun laws, really what you're doing is keeping the guns out of the hands of good people who could prevent these tragedies.
00:21:58.000 So horrible.
00:22:00.000 Riley, yeah, and you said the family of the victims, that's his family.
00:22:04.000 So he killed his son, his senior.
00:22:07.000 His son was a senior in high school and the mother of his son.
00:22:10.000 And I said, wow, at one point when you were talking, because you basically verbatim took a line of Charlie's.
00:22:17.000 From 2023, after another one of these incidents had happened.
00:22:20.000 I'm gonna go ahead and play that clip, 378.
00:22:22.000 Trans people have been made into kind of the sacred cow of American politics.
00:22:27.000 You can't question it.
00:22:30.000 You can't criticize it.
00:22:32.000 And they believe they can threaten whoever they want.
00:22:34.000 This is the ultimate top of the Impression Olympics.
00:22:37.000 How many dead kids is it going to take for us to say we've probably gone too far here and we should just ask a couple questions?
00:22:44.000 How many mass shootings have to happen where we probably say, wait a second, you know, can we just calm down?
00:22:50.000 Yeah, you asked the same question, right?
00:22:52.000 How many of these incidents is it going to take before we say the most mentally unstable, unwell, Upset, bitter, whatever the diagnosis is, how many incidents is it going to take before we stop pouring SSRIs down these people?
00:23:07.000 How many hormone replacement therapies, this cocktail of drugs that we are giving the most unstable people in our society?
00:23:14.000 Yeah.
00:23:15.000 First, let me just say it's so hard to listen to a video of Charlie Kirk.
00:23:22.000 Honestly, I don't know.
00:23:24.000 I know some people have found comfort in watching clips of his, but I really haven't.
00:23:29.000 It's been really.
00:23:30.000 Like, difficult to listen, and especially this clip and listening to him speak to what would ultimately and prematurely take his life.
00:23:38.000 What just a really horrible thing.
00:23:41.000 But yeah, and talking about the SSRIs, I think that's another reason why we haven't seen, especially those who call themselves healthcare professionals, really question administering synthetic and unnatural chemicals and substances to those who identify as trans because it opens the door for broader questions to.
00:24:03.000 Those SSRIs, SNRIs, you know, antidepressant medication that are overly diagnosed and overly prescribed.
00:24:12.000 Now, that is not me saying that antidepressants aren't useful and beneficial for some people, but they are being prescribed at an alarming rate, especially to people among my generation.
00:24:24.000 And when you look at things, and going back to talking about administering these chemicals and hormones to minors or adults for that matter, when you look at the effects of something like testosterone, what that has.
00:24:37.000 Increased impulsivity, increased aggression, short temper.
00:24:41.000 It really only magnifies the issues that are there as opposed to creating new ones or diminishing them.
00:24:47.000 It magnifies those underlying things.
00:24:49.000 So, again, when you're talking about, which is a commonality, someone with underlying mood disorders such as OCD, such as bipolar disorder, or ADHD, whatever it is, depression, anxiety, that's what's being magnified here.
00:25:03.000 And again, I think a large part of why we're seeing so many horrible tragedies committed.
00:25:08.000 Yeah, and you asked a question earlier.
00:25:10.000 You said, What is the solution?
00:25:11.000 Well, we know the solution isn't to affirm a disease and say, Yes, you can have more and more of your own disease, your own situation.
00:25:20.000 Now, adults are going to choose what they're going to choose.
00:25:23.000 We do have freedom in this country.
00:25:24.000 They're going to choose what they're going to choose.
00:25:25.000 But one of the storylines that we saw this morning that I think is tied into this when we talk about solutions is the rise in faith.
00:25:33.000 And it's not, this is not the kids are not flocking back to watered down Christianity, they're flocking back to, The old, the good, the true, those faiths that have stood the test of time for millennia.
00:25:44.000 And the Protestant churches, maybe newer, but that are preaching a strong gospel, a masculine gospel, a just straightforward, unapologetic gospel of Jesus Christ.
00:25:57.000 That, I believe, is what you're starting to see in culture this pushback to this destabilization, this societal anarchy that we're seeing.
00:26:06.000 And maybe speak to that, Riley, because you're a Christian, you're seeing this with young people that you speak to.
00:26:11.000 What is the mechanism?
00:26:13.000 Why are people flocking back to the faith, especially young people?
00:26:16.000 Well, I think when analyzing religion, and I'll just speak pretty personally here, I feel a total sense of serenity and calmness and security and confidence in the stance that I've taken despite the constant attacks or death threats that are hurled my way.
00:26:35.000 And honestly, Charlie was this way too.
00:26:38.000 And I think that was very evident in how he conducted himself, how he's still willing to go out there knowing that threats existed.
00:26:44.000 It's because he knew that what he was fighting for was the hope and the promise of eternal life.
00:26:48.000 That is the only place you will ever find satisfaction.
00:26:51.000 And I think oftentimes, especially when dissecting gender ideology, these people are desperately looking for their identity.
00:26:58.000 They're looking for a place to find that identity.
00:27:00.000 Well, I know as a Christian that the only place that you will find pure and total satisfaction is in placing your identity in Christ.
00:27:09.000 And I think a lot of young people are becoming to understand that.
00:27:14.000 They're realizing this.
00:27:15.000 And in that, you're seeing a shift back to.
00:27:18.000 Developing that relationship with Christ, seeking salvation.
00:27:21.000 And a large part of that is the legacy that Charlie Kirk left.
00:27:25.000 And honestly, like, I hate talking about it like this because it seems as if, you know, in speaking of the good things that happened following Charlie's death, selfishly, like, I'd rather him still be here.
00:27:37.000 But it was one of the consequences that we saw this revival, especially of young people going to church that Sunday after Charlie Kirk's assassination.
00:27:48.000 Empty seat.
00:27:49.000 People felt a conviction, a calling to go back to open their Bible, to maybe buy a Bible for the first time in their life.
00:27:56.000 That's a really special thing.
00:27:58.000 And it's, again, it's the kind of life that Charlie Kirk lived.
00:28:02.000 So we're seeing a lot of inspiration in that, I think, especially in my generation.
00:28:07.000 Yeah, well said.
00:28:08.000 And I'm with you, to be honest.
00:28:10.000 It's hard for me to watch Charlie clips.
00:28:12.000 You know, the team and the audience, I know that it means a lot to people out there to see them.
00:28:17.000 But for me, it, it, It doesn't get easier.
00:28:20.000 So I'm with you.
00:28:21.000 Riley Gaines, thank you so much for coming.
00:28:24.000 You are uniquely positioned to talk about this issue.
00:28:26.000 So God bless you.
00:28:27.000 Keep safe.
00:28:28.000 And we'll talk to you again soon.
00:28:29.000 Thanks for everything you're doing out there, too, with our students.
00:28:31.000 You're doing a great job.
00:28:32.000 Yeah, of course.
00:28:33.000 Thank you, too.
00:28:36.000 Hi, folks.
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00:29:35.000 Gotta hit CNN.
00:29:36.000 They're at it again.
00:29:37.000 They're old tricks.
00:29:38.000 So, Blake, CNN is doing a special documentary piece on the rise of Christian nationalism.
00:29:45.000 Oh, boy.
00:29:46.000 They're bitten that hobby horse again.
00:29:48.000 Yeah, there have been multiple storylines that feel like I'm in 2021 again.
00:29:52.000 Like over and over and over again.
00:29:54.000 2023, I think, was the peak where they were really emphasizing that Christian nationalism was going to be the threat du jour of 2024.
00:30:01.000 But, for real, what is wrong with Christians?
00:30:06.000 Loving their country, being involved in politics.
00:30:08.000 Isn't that how America was founded?
00:30:10.000 Yeah, I mean, it's that classic thing where Antifa will post these World War II, like Antifa in World War II, when they would have all considered their great grandfathers the worst fascists imaginable.
00:30:21.000 Yeah, of course.
00:30:21.000 Every view they hold.
00:30:22.000 Yeah, and so same thing.
00:30:23.000 You're a Christian nationalist if you believe anything that 90% of Americans believed from 1776 to 1970.
00:30:30.000 Consider this.
00:30:31.000 So CNN does a piece, Pamela Brown, who I know, talking about the radicalization of people.
00:30:39.000 At Charlie's memorial, because Charlie was assassinated by a radical, by, as we talked about with Riley, somebody that was animated, at least in part, by his love affair with somebody that was trans.
00:30:54.000 And instead of burning down the country, like the real radicals did, we held vigils and memorials, and people bought Bibles and they got baptized.
00:31:02.000 How is that a bad thing?
00:31:05.000 What are we even talking about here?
00:31:07.000 So let me play the clip 384.
00:31:10.000 And if you don't get as ticked off as I do watching this, I don't know.
00:31:14.000 This is just really infuriating stuff.
00:31:16.000 384. Memorial service was one of the most potent examples of this shift in our culture that we're experiencing right now, where a large segment of American Christians are being activated by these ideas, radicalized by these ideas that say that they are the persecuted ones and that they need to stand up for Christians' rights.
00:31:41.000 Well, you know, Charlie did get assassinated.
00:31:44.000 You do realize that, whoever this guy is.
00:31:47.000 What's his name?
00:31:48.000 He deserves to be made a little bit famous for being an idiot.
00:31:51.000 I refuse to know the names of CNN personnel.
00:31:54.000 So, we have a nation that was founded by Christians, inspired by quite fanatical Christians, if anything.
00:32:05.000 Yes.
00:32:06.000 By the way, the only true form of Christianity is radical Christianity.
00:32:10.000 There's Bible verses talking about if you're a lukewarm Christian, you will be spit out.
00:32:14.000 And it's one of those books Charlie liked Tom Holland's Dominion, that we, because we swim in the ocean of.
00:32:22.000 Even if you're not religious, actually, we don't recognize how fundamentally radical Christianity was from its very beginnings.
00:32:29.000 That it totally remade the moral order of the Roman Empire, of the other Europeans that converted to it, of the Middle Easterners who converted to it.
00:32:38.000 That everyone who ran into Christianity in the first century, the second century, the third century, for the first time, they're thinking, what in the world is this?
00:32:47.000 It has to be a radical faith.
00:32:48.000 It is not a faith that is just going with your.
00:32:52.000 Completely innate passive impulses that prevailed everywhere around the world before it came along.
00:32:58.000 Well, and this is the point.
00:32:59.000 I mean, you look at what we talked about with the rise of Gen Z men going to church.
00:33:03.000 They're going to the ancient churches that have not bent the knee to the zeitgeist of the culture of the day.
00:33:12.000 They're going with things that are proudly and unapologetically preaching the full gospel, the full weight of it.
00:33:18.000 You know, they don't want a weak, watered down preaching style.
00:33:21.000 They don't want that.
00:33:22.000 That's exactly what the world offers.
00:33:24.000 They don't want pseudo social sciences with a pew.
00:33:27.000 That's what the world offers.
00:33:28.000 They want radical Christianity that's boldly standing up for the principles of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, risen from the dead on the third day, appearing before the apostles, and then 500, and then 5,000.
00:33:44.000 That's what they want.
00:33:45.000 They want the full thing.
00:33:47.000 And they want people inspired by that faith to march into the public square and to build a world that looks more like the kingdom of God.
00:33:55.000 That is the Christian faith.
00:33:57.000 Let's go to the clip.
00:33:59.000 Charlie, 395.
00:34:00.000 John Adams seamlessly said the Constitution was only written for immoral and religious people.
00:34:04.000 It was wholly inadequate for the people of any other.
00:34:07.000 The body politic of America was so Christian and was so Protestant that our form and structure of government was built for the people that believed in Christ our Lord.
00:34:15.000 One of the reasons we're living through a constitutional crisis is that we no longer have a Christian nation, but we have a Christian form of government, and they're incompatible.
00:34:23.000 So you cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.
00:34:26.000 Our little thing that we were discussing has made its way to Fox News, 394.
00:34:30.000 Young men report feeling culturally dislocated or villainized by progressive secular discourse regarding masculinity.
00:34:37.000 Traditional forms of Christianity, particularly Catholicism and Orthodoxy, offer a narrative of responsibility, sacrifice, and hierarchy that appeals to men seeking a defined role in a fluid world.
00:34:48.000 Now, the report also breaks down weekly religious attendance by education level, and those with postgraduate degrees are at 30%.
00:34:55.000 People with bachelor's degrees, 28%.
00:34:58.000 Emily, to add to this a little bit, okay, it's a worldwide phenomenon.
00:35:02.000 45% increase in the number of People baptized in France.
00:35:05.000 In the UK, they have seen 18 to 24 year olds jump from 4% believers and attending church in 2018 to 16%.
00:35:12.000 But I love this.
00:35:13.000 Most of this growth is concentrated among Catholics and Pentecostals.
00:35:17.000 A shout out to my evangelical crowd there.
00:35:20.000 4% is what it bottomed out in the UK.
00:35:23.000 What's crazy is that they're talking about how young men specifically feel alienated by a progressive discourse.
00:35:30.000 If you show that Yahoo again, just give me this picture of this guy with his glasses.
00:35:35.000 Saying they're being radicalized to stand up for their Christian faith.
00:35:38.000 Well, what do you think is going to happen when you target pro lifers that are praying outside an abortion clinic?
00:35:44.000 What do you think is going to happen when you spy on Catholics?
00:35:48.000 This is what young men feel alienated by.
00:35:51.000 That's a Karen with a beard right there, talking about the rise of Christian nationalism.
00:35:56.000 The rise of Christian nationalism is why we didn't burn down cities when Charlie was killed.
00:36:04.000 What are they complaining about?
00:36:07.000 What would you want in its place?
00:36:08.000 A bunch of Antifa thugs marching in the streets throwing Molotov cocktails?
00:36:12.000 What would you want in its place?
00:36:16.000 More targets looted?
00:36:18.000 More buildings burned?
00:36:20.000 Mangioni's going around shooting the head of UnitedHealthcare?
00:36:23.000 Is that what you really want?
00:36:27.000 I just don't understand what they're so upset about.
00:36:29.000 This country is a Christian nation.
00:36:31.000 It was founded by Christians, as Charlie said.
00:36:33.000 And guess what?
00:36:34.000 Western civilization is defined by one through line Christianity.
00:36:38.000 You are blessed by Christianity, CNN.
00:36:42.000 You are blessed by the fact that Christians are still driven to lead purposeful lives and get into politics, to get into business, to have families.
00:36:51.000 If they don't like Christian nationalism, they are not going to like whatever comes out.
00:36:56.000 Islamic nationalism.
00:36:57.000 Is that what you want?
00:36:58.000 I don't think you want that.
00:37:01.000 All right, so we actually have a clip of Charlie being called a Christian nationalist by a student during a Prove Me Wrong debate.
00:37:09.000 Let's go ahead and play, cut.
00:37:11.000 Do we have the number 404?
00:37:13.000 Christian nationalism, I do not agree with at all.
00:37:16.000 I think it's antithetical to the values of the early church.
00:37:20.000 And I think, how do you reconcile the, especially white Christians in this America, marrying politics and power with their faith in this country?
00:37:31.000 There's a lot there.
00:37:32.000 I've never described myself as a Christian nationalist.
00:37:34.000 So I'm a Christian and a nationalist.
00:37:36.000 So I've never used those two terms.
00:37:37.000 And then right there, that and nationalist.
00:37:39.000 Where in the scriptures does a Christian, Jeremiah 29 7, demand the welfare of the nation that you are in because your welfare is tied to your nation's welfare?
00:37:48.000 Beautiful answer.
00:37:49.000 It's true.
00:37:50.000 We are called to support the nation state.
00:37:52.000 It was God that defined the boundary lines of the nations.
00:37:56.000 And, you know, render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, render unto God what is God's.
00:37:59.000 I mean, God loves order.
00:38:01.000 And this is, you know, a lot of these people that don't believe in.
00:38:05.000 You know, being proudly nationalistic or patriotic, I see them as basically bleeding into the same concept.
00:38:12.000 What the left wants to do is create a boogeyman that never existed until they sort of invented the term and then they use it as a cudgel to try and scare you and make you distance yourself from it.
00:38:23.000 Well, listen, we're Christians and we love our nation.
00:38:26.000 There's not much more to it than that.
00:38:28.000 Simple as.
00:38:33.000 For more on many of these stories and news you can trust, go to charliekirk.com.